1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a weld soot filtration system and more particularly to a liquid filtration system for a laser welding process.
2. Summary of the Related Art
During a laser welding process by products are given off which must be evacuated from the vicinity of the weld. Specifically, iron particles within an argon based shielding gas environment are continuously produced during the laser process. Conventional evacuation systems provide a vacuum source proximate the laser weld vicinity. The vacuumed gasses are channeled to a paper or dry filtering system. Conventional systems utilize electrostatic filters, cleanable mechanical filters of fabric or other dry filtering material or a combination of both. These conventional systems are similar to simple air filtration systems to remove impurities from the air such as air conditioner filters. However, during the laser welding process argon gas is utilized to prevent oxidation from forming along the weld seem. As a result iron particles given off by the weld are not oxidized as they begin to cool due to the absence of oxygen in the immediate weld environment. The iron particles thus become highly reactive as a result of being shielded from oxygen. These particles retain heat as they build up in the evacuating ductwork. As a result the particles may start to smolder and eventually start a fire. Such is particularly of concern as soot becomes trapped in elbow turns in the evacuating ductwork. Consequently, these conventional systems require additional costly fire suppression systems. Moreover, the mechanical filtration systems require constant maintenance, cleaning and replacement.
The object of the present invention is to overcome and improve upon the drawbacks of the related art filtration systems.
The present invention is directed to a water filtration system for a laser welding process. A substantially closed weld chamber has an air intake and an exhaust or evacuating ductwork for evacuating gasses and other particles from the welding chamber. The evacuating ductwork is connected to a vacuum source to remove gasses and by products from the weld chamber during welding. A throttle plate is provided in the evacuating ductwork adjacent the weld chamber to adjust or regulate the air velocity evacuating from the weld chamber. The evacuating duct then leads to a sealed water filtering tank. All of the exhausted/evacuated gasses and by products (smoke, weld soot, etc. hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cevacuantsxe2x80x9d) are led beneath the water line and bubble through the water before emerging from the sealed water tank. The soot and iron particles are immediately cooled and trapped in the water tank. Moreover, particles become wet and are thus less likely to become airborne thus leading to a substantial portion of the particles being trapped in the sealed water tank. The remaining gasses are then evacuated to the vacuum source and further filtered by a mechanical filtration device.